DJT

Malc you will see my LS430 on day. Someone sent me a message about a jap fest gathering of all types of Japanese cars. Only issue is it's in south of England so need to book some holiday and hotel.

We don't have speed bunps, we've got craters with bits of tarmac around them. No I don't drive fast just roll into craters and crawl out slowly. Best bit is every built up area is now 20mph. If only we could go that fast 🤣. A9 is only decent bit of tarmac for miles.

Steve 2006 not sure if pub it's still under same name but black stairs is part of the original Wick. Also black stairs was the subject of a painting by LS Lowry. Can you remember the drive north of Inverness where the roads start to get "interesting" 😆.

Seen 34mpg on drives to Edinburgh from Wick

Hi finally got 4 wheel alignment done. Rear needed more toe out I was out by 2 degrees 🫣. Front need more toe in again out by 2 degrees. Yes she feels a lot better. Very planted on the rear. Drive back from alignment was impressive no slowing for bends. Just turn steering wheel and go around bend. I didn't get pushed to either side of car during cornering. After putting in some petrol after alignment I got 32.8mpg on trip meter. This was on a 20 mile drive. Hopefully longer drives should see me closer to 35-36 mpg.

Razor61 I measured drained oil when it was cold. 6+ litres of cold oil is going to way over full mark on dipstick. Reason I never noticed before car is parked on a slope with dipstick side lower than non dipstick side. Photos show volume of cold oil. My mpg has improved over mpg when I had when lexus do the service. Car care nut on U-tube who is lexus trained says to check oil on warm engine after it has sat for 15-20 minutes to get accurate measurement. So on a cold engine should be just below full mark. Merc sprinters have similar issues only fill to 3/4 on dipstick. Know this because when I worked delivering hire vans, mechanic's always told us to make sure previous hirer's had not topped up oil in belief that engine was short on oil.

Hi does anyone know the part number or what I can use to clip floor mat hooks into. See photo of item that I need to fix to floor. My fittings are missing from floor.

After a test drive today LS430 feels so much better on the road. Still need to get toe in/out professionally adjusted.

Forgot say I had sprayed ball joints and bolt on arm with penetrating oil daily for a week to make job easier.

Hi thanks for replies. I have bought new toe in/out adjusters arms from hard racing. Very nice bit of kit. Removing arms on NSR was a piece of cake. Took an hour from getting car jacked to replacing wheel. OSR rear was the complete opposite. Had 3 ball joint splitters to chose from. As the ball joints are deep two would not work. Had to go the brutal old fashioned way. Ball joint wedge and lump hammer. Still could not split it as I ran out of gap between forks. So went off to buy a propane burner to heat up ball joint housing to help remove it. It removed ball joint and steel insert for aluminium housing 🙄🫣. Separating ball joint from steel insert was a 💩💩💩 of job. Getting insert back in was just as bad. Managed to destroy old ball joint now in all its separate parts no sign of wear in ball joint after 320k miles. Lexus knew how to build longevity into the LS430. As for toe in/out I have done a rough measurement using a tape measure. Gone from 9 o'clock on NSR to 3 o'clock OSR on front of rim. Reversed for rear of rim. Divide the difference by 2 which gives the amount to alter each side. LS430 has very slight toe out at rear. So have set it as close to parallel as possible. Need to to find a 4 wheel tracking place to set it it perfectly. This could be 100 miles down the road so need it as close as possible without upsetting handling and scrubbing tyres on inside edge.

Hi have got around to doing an oil change on my 2004 LS430. Got genuine filter off eBay from a company called JDM ?????. Photo attached of filter after I finally got it off. Instructions on filter say to hand tighten then do a 3/4 turn with a approved tool. Last oil change was done by Lexus Edinburgh. I drained near 5.5 litres plus 300ml from oil filter. That makes 5.8 litres plus what I managed to spill on road 🫣. To get to full mark on my LS430 it took 5 litres. Never really took much notice before as engine oil was very clean (hard to read level) with car parked on slope. Hopefully got photos attached showing how much oil I drained. Think Lexus Edinburgh over filled my engine, but when looking online to check oil capacity there are 3 amounts for 2004 LS430. Lowest on is 5 litres for oil change. Highest is 6.5 litres for a fill on dry engine. Think technician took wrong number for a fill. I did buy a service kit from opie oils which included 6 litres of oil. So I have an unopened 1 litre of opie oils nano tech oil. Car does perform alot better but whether is down to clean high spec oil or having right amount of oil in engine, or combination of both.

Hi seem to have a lot of toe in on rear axle. Have taken photo of what I believe is toe adjustment for rear. This looking down from top on OSR. Could anyone confirm this for me Thanks David

Hi does it matter which fully synthetic 5W30 oil you use. Talking about the ACEA rating such as C3, C5 etc etc. Cannot find anything relating to Lexus/Toyota engines. BMW, FORD and Merc all get a mention on different types of 5W30. Also where can I buy and an oil filter shipped to in Highlands of Scotland without a ridiculous shipping fee. Been quoted up to £15 for shipping which strikes me as excessive. All sites I've been on have small print saying all deliveries of any size start at £7 to £15. Could get a filter and shipping from Japan for less than some UK suppliers 🤔. Don't mind paying a reasonable delivery charge.

Malc 1 cannot get E5 or super unleaded where I live ☹️. Found a filling station in Thurso who's petrol seems to make car run better. 40 mile round trip for petrol, as we know short trips kill engines. 40 miles gets everything nice and warm.

Hi when I went to pick up my Lexus had a chat with service lady. Showed me 4 pins in brake shoes that where corroded to point of breaking. Confirmed I had no friction material on handbrake shoes 🤔. She also mentioned that people are contacting them about buying old LS models cost no object. Does this mean die hard lexus car buyers realise how good the old LS models where. Had chat with tech who repaired my car to discuss what he found. Broken rear ride leveller which I knew about. Also one of rear ride sensors not plugged in 🫣, explains ASL? light flashing🙄. My error so will sort that out. Leaking thermostat housing and top hose at ends. He asked if it was genuine milage at 325k. Valet did a magnificent job of car. Not that it was in bad state. Look at it the sunshine and think what a beautiful car. Have been out to check wheel nut torque as lesson learned from last time. Wheel nuts should be tighten after 20mins drive or 30 miles. Yes they needed to be tightened. Hopefully 🤞 won't need to check on way back.

On plus side my LS430 has done Wick to Edinburgh (approx 230 miles) on 1/2 tank of Tesco's 99 momentum petrol.

Hi took me 8 hours to drive from Wick to Edinburgh. Sat nav says 5 hours. Don't what was worse the weather, standing water or driving standards. Next task is MOT by 24th of June. Have one issue ASL? light is flashing constantly. My copy of techstream needs another code to get it to work 🙄. Might see what lexus would charge me 🤣🤣🤣. Does anyone know if this light is an automatic fail for MOT.

Hi Malc1 my Lexus is actually 325000 miles not 330k as I stated on previous posts. Next expense is getting paint work sorted 😬😬😬.

Hi finally fitted new super lightweight alloys and new tyres. Rims are from bola B2R. Tyres are continental all season. Got stunning deal on tyres about £60 each delivered 🙂. Wheels £600 delivered from factory. No clearance issues at all. Feels quicker off the line. According to Bola wheels web page saving minimum of 6kg per wheel which equates to a weight saving on sprung mass of approx 96kg in total. Suspension is now hard race adjustable top control arms with solid bushes, along with BC coilovers set 3/4" higher to allow for craters in our local "roads". Ride is very similar to my air suspension that was faulty. Off to Edinburgh on Wednesday for replacement radiator under warranty and get new hand brake shoes fitted. As shoes appear to have no friction material left 🤔. Will explain why parking brake has no feel or resistance.

Hi everyone have eventually fitted new top control arms front and back, plus coil over suspension. Taken about 5 days around other nesscary tasks and compulsory overtime at work. Rear top control arms are not easiest to remove or fit. Rear subframe has to be lowered as only way of getting to bolts hold control arm. Had to resort to using angle grinder to cut bolts off 🤔 as heating bolts wasn't working. Bushes where smoking badly. Having a fire at back of car would not be helpful. Replaced with stainless steel bolts with a film of copper grease to ease possible later removal. Ride is very good compared to air suspension. Need to soften rear springs a bit. Hopefully later this week I will have lightweight rims and tyres ready for fitting. It is good to be behind the wheel of my LS430 again. 🙂

Malc1 your still 70k miles behind me.

Greenlight are highly recommended for modified car insurance. Certainly understand modifications and what they do.

Malc 1 just got a stunning deal from greenlight insurance. All mods declared can add more if I feel like it. Can have track day cover for £45 per day if I feel the need to track day her 😱😬.

Hi Malc1 I am in discussions with several insurance companies. Problem is not the mods, it's the car 🤔. Lexus seems to be so misunderstood as brand. Far more than a jumped Toyota. Billions spent on refining every part for optimal weight reduction and strength is on scale that's never been repeated. LS430 is not a difficult car to work on. Design and quality of parts and ease of routine maintenance is phenomenal.

Finally got all the parts for fitting coilovers, top control arms and rear drop links. Plus insurance is due. Current insurer will not insure me with mods. Been looking around for an insurer to cover mods. Got what I think is reasonable quotes considering changes from OEM spec. Costing me about £400 more than last year, bearing in mind insurance has rocketed in price.